The Mail Strike

July 7, 2011

When we first arrived here 3 weeks ago, Canada was in the midst of a postal strike.  Canada Post had been on strike for over 4 weeks fighting a contract battle similar to the union rights debacle that happened recently in Wisconsin.  Parliament remained in session during the start of the summer break to resolve the issue, only to have the NDP (Canada's answer to the Democrats) filibuster a resolution to the crisis.  Many here were furious at the NDP for further delaying the end of the dispute, but the NDP were doing their best to fight for the rights of Canada's postal workers who were having their pay and benefits cut under an unpopular Torie (Conservative) initiative, similar to what some Republican governors have been doing to teacher unions in places like Wisconsin, Ohio, and Maine.  Eventually, being in a relatively weak minority position, the liberals had to yield and the bill to put the postal workers back to work was passed, without any changes to the original rights-stripping bill.  Mail service resumed last Tuesday.

Why do I bring this up?

Two reasons.

This story was on Huffington Post Canada today ( Canada Post Races To Catch Up  ), detailing the massive backlog of mail yet to be delivered.  The game of catch-up will take much longer than originally anticipated because the carriers are not allowed overtime to battle the extra 9 million-plus pieces of mail that have accumulated above and beyond the regular post.

The second reason I mention it is because yesterday we got our first piece of mail.  It was a birthday card from my friend Jenifer Kloss back in Chicago, who has never failed in 20 years to send me one (though she sent it about a week after my birthday as we waited to find out when we would be moving).

My birthday was June 11.